WARNING: Parts of this work contain depictions of transphobia, controversial shoujo fantasy trans situation that in no way reflects real life trans people, and misogynic magic attack leading to forced masculinization.

Notes: Oh my God, I get so many people to thank for having been able to make it this far. Please see Endnotes for more. .

The Day We Shine Together IV

‘Do you know? Do you know? Do you know that the story’s ending?’

‘I say it’s not over till its over!’

‘Please. It’s gonna be over anyway, one way or the other.’

‘Then . . . what’s to become of us after it’s over?’

‘Will it be the fabled happily ever after?’

‘Or . . . will it be . . . ?’

“ . . . it will be our turn to shine together, at last.”

Speaking on her cellphone, Ohtori Hoshimi past the shadows moving upon the wall as she made her way towards the Castle’s main hall at a sinuous, purposeful pace.

“Just wait now, Prince,” she urged, blue eyes bright with seething anxiety as she kicked aside one of the many apples having since fallen off the vines present. “Your princess -- your one and only -- will save you for sure, this time . . . ”

As she spoke, the woman’s sinuous figure disappeared into the white glow currently engulfing the hall. Behind her, the kicked apple hit a wall; its subsequent splattering into a puddle of rotted gore incited girlish “oohs” and “ahhhs” from within the darkness of the corridor . . .

‘Do you know? Do you know? Do you wonder what we know?’

*** “To think that a determined ghost could exert such influence in the physical realm . . .”

On stage, the group -- minus Wakaba and Tatsuya, both still caught up in their own world -- watched, transfixed, as the Penguinhat-wearing ghost approached Takakura Himari with the casual friendliness of a lively child, before merging with the girl in an explosion of alien symbols that rendered the entire area a sci-fi-ish maboroshi.

“So that’s Oginome Momoka,” murmured Miki, more to himself than to Double H, currently dumbstruck from where they huddled against each other, agape. “What does she want now--”

A slip of a sweat-slicked palm, and he lost hold of Saionji. Like a balloon with its string cut, the now “invisible” swordman drifted nimbly over towards the invisible crowd milling about their surroundings.

“W-Wait--” Giving chase, the agile fencer nonetheless failed to reach Saionji before the latter had since slipped into the masses. Frantic, he turned towards the others, but quickly realized how none of them could be of help in their current states. “No . . .”

Collapsing to his knees, Miki watched with despairing eyes his old schoolmate -- and new friend –- now losing his last chance at retaining individuality as he became part of the Invisible Storm.

“SAIONJI-SEMPAI!!!”

***

“ . . . what happens now?”

Outside the Tokyo Big Egg, Eriko and her group watched in dismay as the stadium’s LED screen, after having displayed static for the past ten minutes, shut down completely.

“The online streaming is still down,” confirmed Yuri, flipping through various websites from her smartphone. “And I see no more news alerts regarding the concert’s ongoing.”

Blinking at the persistent outcry droning in the background, Eriko spared a furtive gaze towards the sea of faceless fans currently gathered outside the Big Egg, their shadowy multitudes walling in their small group. “How it must be like to be Seen,” she wondered aloud, “to be so worshiped . . .”

“He may have his adorning masses, but Seen ain’t got nothing on Momoka when it comes to being worshiped.”

Tabuki’s statement, coming after his earlier shocking confession, had the activists present turning towards him with widened eyes. The man had his head hung low, with his fiancée holding on to his trembling hand in support. He muttered on: “Trust us, Auntie Oginome. We know.”

***

“Hey . . . do you know?

“Truth is, my cause . . . my reason for being seen has more to do with me than with you.

“To the nobody I was, the attention of others was necessary for my survival.

“It was not to spite you for dumping me, but rather, for my own continued survival, that I sold my soul to the Devil, and became the idol I am now.

“To think that I’d still need your love, now, even after having earned all that fame and fortune throughout these years . . .

“But now . . . even this too shall pass.”

Eyes on his now rusting flying guillotine, the downcast Tatsuya –- having finally bleding out the last of his stolen penguindrums –- slumped forward and against Wakaba, who struggled to uphold his tall frame.

“Tatsuya!”

“Without being ‘Seen’, I shall again become nobody. Just like before . . . no, even worse than before.”

Even as he spoke, red bruises came to bloom under his fair complexion, decaying his artificial beauty under Wakaba’s horrified eyes. Tatsuya noted her reaction with a dark, dispairing smirk.

“Yes; now that I’ve let go of the people’s penguindrums, this faux body and life are both going fast.” His surgically-lengthened legs finally gave out, bringing the both of them to their knees. “The fickle fans will all abandon me, no doubt. You, who were unmoved by me even when I was at my best; I wonder . . . will you be similarly unaffected by my worst? Or . . . ?” A blood-colored piece of penguin-faced something drifted petal-like down and past the two, soon to be followed by more of the same. “Will you stay with this crippled mess of bruises and swells I’m about to become?” The crimson drizzle, coming down from the arc of penguindrums now floating above the stage, thickened into a stormy pour. “Or, will you leave me to rot again, just like--” He stopped at Wabaka –- having since regained her penguindrum and her strength -– now tightening her arms around him.

“Don’t worry, Tatsuya,” murmured Wakaba, trying to convince him as much as she did herself. “Don’t worry . . .”

***

“There is certainly much to worry about.”

Straightening up anew, Tabuki again faced Eriko, a renewed determination visible in his bespectacled eyes.

“When Takakura Kanba is to return, so too will his prior actions from that other reality return to haunt him,” stated the man. “The policed will be going after him for his having committed those acts of vandalism alongside Kiga’s remnant members.” He took in a deep breath -- as though steering himself -- prior to continuing. “I will confess to the authorities about how I had threatened and harmed him -- along with Takakura Himari -- in my misguided attempt to avenge Momoka’s death during that Subway Attack. I want it on record how, on top of suffering financial duress due to his sister’s medical costs, the boy was provoked into going off the deep end by me, his own teacher. Hopefully, this will lighten whatever sentence our judicial system might punish Kanba-kun with.”

“Tabuki-kun,” Eriko watched the boy whom she once thought would become Momoka’s husband with a heavy heart. “You understand that your career as an educator will be shot after such a confession?”

Tabuki grew downcast. “I no longer deserve to work with children after what I did to the Takakura kids.” His voice hardened as his fists clenched. “I will accept what punishment that comes my way. But Kanba-kun is still young, I cannot let this unkind fate take away his future . . .” He trailed off at Mario, who had been listening to him in silence coming up to him and grabbing his hand.

“Tabuki-san.” The boy beamed up and at this former foe who now was trying to aid his older brother. “If you’re okay with working for children, Natsume Corps. can always use a man of your talent and character.”

Biting down upon his lower lip, Tabuki took Mario’s small hand in both of his, saying nothing.

Eriko, for her part, was already blinking back tears.

“Momoka was our savior,” murmured Yuri, as though only to herself. “We were unloved children who would have been destroyed by the Child Broiler, had she not offered herself up as our reason to live. After the Kiga Subway Attack took her from us, the three of us who got left behind were left to face the ending of our world. None of us were ever the same since.”

“ ‘Three?’ ” asked Eriko. Under the young couple’s saddened gazes, the mourning mother came to be petrified as a gradual realization overtook her. “No . . . how could I . . . . It hasn’t been that long ago, but I had completely forgotten about little Captain-kun . . .”

“ ‘Captain-kun?’ ” asked Mario, blinking at the weird name.

Shaken, Eriko turned away with a palm over her lower profile, unable to answer the inquisitive child.

Yuri gave the shaken older woman a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Auntie. We’ve forgotten about him too for the longest time. It was only when Tabuki and I found a picture we had with him from an old photo album that we finally remember him again . . . and along with him, everything from the old reality.”

“Mario-kun.” Having composed herself, Eriko straightened up to properly face the young Natsume heir. “Back then, near the end of her short life, my daughter had a fateful encounter with this very special person . . . ”

***

“How spectacular.”

Flanked by the group occupying the train car, he observed, via LED monitors, the massive egg basking the Castle’s vast hall under its brilliant aura.

“Within that shell simmers the Light of the World,” stated Ruka, blue eyes bright from more than reflected light. “With that kind of power, anything is possible.” He pointed at the screen, where cracks could be seen appearing upon the egg’s surface. “With the Victor still in her shell, now is the perfect time to enact the Princess of the Crystal’s plan, and take from Tenjou Utena the power that should better belong with Takakura Himari, member of Triple H, and--”

“Oginome Momoka’s current avatar.”

All turned towards Nanami (except Tokiko, currently whispering inaudible words through the cab’s door to her dead brother), currently glaring at Ruka from where she stood beside Tsuwabuki and Shouma, both seemingly taken aback by her statement.

“From what Himemiya and Juri-sempai had told us, you’ve probably known Oginome Momoka since before you’ve even transferred to Ohtori,” stated Nanami, stepping up and towards the phantom. “That time, when you returned to Ohtori from your sick leave to partake in the Duels . . . was it this Momoka whose spirit was supporting your ailing body? Back then, Momoka was trying to obtain the Power of Revolution using you, wasn’t she?” Her finger, pointed accusingly at Ruka’s nose, lowered as feisty Duelist gestured down below. “And now, she’s trying to do the same using the younger, greener Takakura Himari, who is no doubt easier to control than even you.”

“Nanami-sama . . .” breathed Tsuwabuki in admiration, as he stood a step closer to his goddess in solidarity. “Yes, there’s definitely something wrong with all this.”

“You’ve seen for yourself the difference in levels between Tenjou Utena and Takakura Himari,” said Ruka, now flanked by the otherworldly Kiga members. “So why’d you persist with this dissent--”

“Because this is stealing!” snapped the blonde. “Tenjou was the only one of us who made it to the Duel called Revolution. Whether she could use Dios’ Power effectively or not, it belongs to her now, because she earned it! That, and should your plan succeed, the Power will not really go towards sweet little Himari -- merely a pawn -- but will instead belong to that sinister girl ghost you’ve been working under!”

Her words had the Children of Fate jolting in shock.

“ . . . so you people really are risking Himari’s future while using her as a pawn for your own agenda,” hissed Kanba, glaring at Ruka and the Kiga ghosts. “Again.”

“Unforgivable!” barked Shouma, characteristic meekness replaced by boiling rage. “To use our sister not once . . . but twice! No way would we let you lying adults play us for fools again like the last time!”

Appearing no less outraged, Ringo and Masako had since produced their respective firearms. They soon got waved back by Nanami, who, along with Tsuwabuki, moved to stand protectively in front of the youngsters while glaring at the ghosts.

“Tsuchiya-sempai, my little brother and the Natsume boy cannot be held accountable for the Subway Attack, but your mistress still sacrificed them towards her own ends. Just what kind of spell did this Oginome Momoka put over you, over our parents, that you’re all now trying to have us betray Tenjou Utena for her?!”

Basked under the glow from the LED screens -- still displaying the Castle’s now light-engulfed interior from various camera angles -- Ruka looked Nanami in her fierce eyes, and gave her his answer.

***

“Back then, Momoka-chan would sometimes disappear for days on end, before eventually showing up again with serious injuries. Those injuries, usually burns, are signs of backslash from my daughter using the Fate Diary’s magical power to change fate for those in need of intervention.

“One day, soon after one of her worrying disappearances, the scenery of this very city suddenly changed from before. A giant statue once dominating the city’s skyline got magically transformed into what is now known as the Tokyo Tower –- and it was like Tokyo Tower had been there for years, with most people having no memories of the disappeared statue having ever been there to begin with. Right afterwards, Momoka-chan turned up at the hospital with the most serious burns she had suffered yet . . .”

“That was Momoka using the Fate Diary to save me from my abusive father,” continued Yuri for Eriko, who had since choked up from the recollection. “Having erased my father’s existence, so too did she make disappear the statue that was my father’s life work.

“For enacting such a massive Fate Transfer, Momoka received third-degree burns to over forty percent of her skin surface. If left in that state, she would have been debilitated, or at least permanently disfigured. That was why, even though she had warned me about the infernal backslash, I still seized the Diary trying to heal her with it.

“Upon making my wish, a fire immediately broke out over the Diary. Petrified, I could not let go of the flaming book, even though the fire was already paining my hands. Momoka was still bedridden and could neither stop nor save me, and I was already getting engulfed by the flames. ‘I’m going to die,’ I thought, ‘I’m wasting the life Momoka had gotten hurt to give me, I cannot save anyone after all . . . not even myself . . .’

“It was then that he came to our rescue.

“A kid around our age suddenly came tearing through the hospital blinds. Decked in white fencing gear, this boy charged at me and knocked the Diary out of my hands with his bare hand.

“Not exactly a bare hand, there was a ring with a rose motif on his ring finger, and it was –- for a faction of a moment -- glowing with the brightness of fresh molten.

“And, just like that, the fire ceased. The Diary laid undamaged upon the floor. I was unharmed. And most importantly, Momoka, who had been paralyzed by her injury, could suddenly get off her bed.”

“Later, the doctor would told us that Momoka’s burns had somehow went from third to mild first-degree, with the area it covered also having shrank significantly.

“It was a miracle.

“That little miracle worker, who was at the hospital for a sport-related injury, came to be a close friend of ours. We found out that he was the captain of his elementary school’s fencing team, with his ring a sign of his being offered admission to the prestigious Ohtori Academy based on his academic excellence.

“To think I was the one who gave him the nickname ‘Captain-kun.’ ” murmured Eriko, now stepping back into her role as storyteller. “That boy . . . that rose crest ring he wore had some kind of magical power to it, much like Momoka’s Fate Diary. The fact that both items originated from Ohtori Academy . . . from the godforsaken place where Cousin Tokiko had acquired her witch powers, did alarm me at first. But little Captain-kun was just so noble for someone his age, and so sweet . . . I really had no reason to keep him from Momoka-chan. The boy had gotten so close so quickly to my daughter, all during that last month of her short life, that I once teased Tabuki-kun about having a ‘rival’.”

She looked towards Tabuki, who remained downcast; she glanced away and off to the distance.

“Yes, I remember now . . . he was even on that train with Momoka-chan during the Kiga Subway Attack. At the funeral, he came up to me and my husband offering not condolences, but rather, an apology; he apologized for having failed to save my daughter even when he was right there with her. I told him that it was not his fault; that he, even with his power, was only a child after all . . . I did not think I got through to him at all.

“Soon afterwards, Captain-kun’s family sent him off to Houou city to attend Ohtori. The boy and our tragedy-wrecked family naturally drifted apart.

“Then, about ten years ago, a funeral invitation reached our household. It turned out that Captain-kun had passed away from a terminal illness.

“My ex-husband mistook the invitation for a mis-mailed item, and actually tried to put it back in the mailbox before I stopped him in time.

“Back then, I thought it was very cold of that man to have forgotten such a close friend of our daughter so quickly.

“Yet . . . just a few more years down the road, and I myself have completely forgotten too . . .” Bloodshot eyes blinking, Eriko pressed her lips together, saying no more.

“Ne . . .” Mario, who had since grown teary from where he was holding onto Renjaku for comfort, glanced from one grim adult face to the next. “Ne . . . why are we talking about this now?”

***

“Nanami-san, I was there in that train car when Oginome Momoka, aged ten, battled Watase Sanetoshi as she tried to stop the Kiga Attack.

“Tenjou Utena was likewise present.

“Two girls, both special from birth by way of their outstanding willpowers, yet Momoka was the only one with the guts and insight to fight for those in danger, in need.

“Had Tenjou been even remotely useful back then, maybe none related to that incident would have to suffer such losses.”

“And what were you doing back then?” asked Nanami, dark eyes narrowed from where she sided with the living members amongst the group.

“I was stopping Ohtori Chairman Ohtori Inuoe -- working with Watase -- from performing a sneak attack on Momoka,” replied Ruka, blue eyes hard from where he stood by the ghosts of the dead Kiga members. “The clash of our powers -- magical and else -- resulted in the both of us being wrecked by the same terminal illness. That man has survived in the sanctuary of Ohtori to this day, while I died from the illness ten years ago: on that very year when the ‘Champion Duelist’ wasted the opportunity to revolutionize the world that was the Final Duel.”

He glared down upon Nanami, who almost but did not glace away.

“So yes, Nanami-san; if you ask me to choose between Oginome Momoka and Tenjou Utena for carrying a power that affects everyone . . . I choose Momoka.

“She is the only one who has what it takes to bring this world true salvation.”

***

“Akio-san, I know.”

Her voice drifted across the vast expanse of the ruined hall, where they stood facing each other; he listened as she spoke further:

“You’ve been gathering this massive power from the World’s people only because you want to again become a prince she can believe in.”

“Kanae-san, I . . .” began Akio, and he stopped at a gesture from his Bride -- willowy figure seemingly aflame under the raging lights saturating the hall’s vast space.

“You can stop now.” The society lady’s cultured voice at last cracked with the gravity of her current angst. “No matter how much you try to help her, it’s no use. Nothing will come of loving someone who doesn’t love you back. Believe me, Akio-san, I know!”

Tears escaped her green eyes then, and Akio would have stepped forth to kiss them away had things not already changed between them. Judging by her current alliance with her half-siblings, he was no longer in any position to offer her either comfort or hurt.

“So, just let your sister go already,” muttered Kanae, dabbing at her eyes with an offered Kleenex from Kaoru Kozue, who currently glowered at him. “Let her and that Utena-san have the Light of the World, if that’s what they want. Just . . . make a clean break with them, and go on to live a life you can call your own.” She let out a soft, depreciative chuckle then. “I understand now; in the end, you don’t need to change the entire world to have what you want –- you only need to change yours.”

“Kanae-san . . .”

“These are likely my last words to you before I walk way, so heed them for your own good; please, Akio-san.”

“Are you considering a divorce?” asked Akio, his tone conversational.

Kanae faced him with bloodshot eyes. “The person I married wasn’t a boy younger than me, like you have since become.”

“Thank you for the work you've done.” Gallant smile in place, Akio gave his soon-to-be ex-bride a gallant, perfunctory half-bow. “I shall guarantee that you and your clan are to prosper in the New World to come after this night.”

And, before she or the others could utter another word, the Ends of the World had since erected a barrier to push back the present Duelists -- all thrown off by his sudden display of power. Manifesting itself in a form invisible to the human eye, the barrier encompassed the entire area around him, including the glowing globe currently basking the Hall under its glorious aura, along with the head end of the vine-bound Fate Steed –- its appearance alternating between train car and white horse.

“No! He’s keeping us from both Tenjou and the Fate Train!” exclaimed the Kaoru girl, already knocking barehanded against the barrier.

//“Step aside,”// sounded the Mikagechopper, prior to attacking the barrier with its wide-range of military weaponry, also to null effects.

Having since turned his back to them all, Akio stepped up towards that large, rotund entity currently containing all that was bright and good that once was and could have been.

And could be, again, should he grasp it in his hand once more.

“The World’s Egg; the Shell that defined the world as my sister and her consort knows it,” he murmured in revere, all the while noting the fiery cracks now spreading along it’s bright surface like fire upon light. “Within this shell simmers the Light that had been stolen from the World since ancient times, leaving the land in darkness . . . a darkness that shall end tonight.” A needy, galloping whine coming from behind signaled his Fate Steed’s hunger for that Light -- a hunger that mirrored his own. “Now is time to reclaim what is rightfully mine.” With that, he placed a palm over his glowing chest, from where he drew the blade of this spirit –- its glorious, resplendent presence inciting sharp gasps from those beyond the barrier.

“The Sword of Dios?!”

//“Such splendor like I had never seen from it before . . . is it because the Ends of the World has since reclaimed his missing heart-fragment from the Princess?”//

Ignoring the Duelists’ voices -- their words no more meaningful to him than those from the shadows -- Akio raised his sword over the egg-like, pearl-toned entity, poised to bring it down.

“Stop!” Kanae’s voice now came shrill with desperation. “You don’t know what will happen! Akio-san!”

“Don’t go!” urged his sister, forcing him down upon his sickbed as the mob outside raged for his service. “You’ll die!”

“Still trying to keep the prince from risking himself?” murmured Akio, hardened heart rubbed raw by the memory brought forth by the human’s plea. “Such a meddlesome princess. You certainly remind me of the sister I once had.” Even as he spoke to Kanae, his gaze never strayed away from the breaking Shell. “Thank you for a taste of what you call love . . . farewell.”

And the Ends of the World sent his princely, demonic sword plunging down at the cracking Egg amidst the Duelists’ outcries--

“I will smash my own shell.”

That firm, assured statement -- spoken in unison by two voices -- caught Akio in mid-swing, right before the Egg exploded in a searing, white blaze that had even him thrown back unprepared. By the time he regained his footing, he found himself facing an armed, armored duo. One of them was covered from head to toe in black, with the other similarly geared in red. Distinctively colored long locks – pink and dark purple, respectively – escaped their owners’ helmets, revealing the duo’s identities.

“Bravo,” saluted Akio, keeping his stance straight and tall. “At last I meet your ‘born’ selves.” He swept his gaze from one to the other. “Tenjou-kun . . . Sister.”

Even with her helmet on, he could tell that his sister -- appearing taller than ever from where she stood by her beloved of this moment – was regarding him with a hard, glaring gaze.

It was the same hostile glare that his once adoring sister once directed at the Princess of the Crystal and the Hate Mob now was cutting at him.

“Fret not, Sister,” said Akio, grim smirk donned as he leveled his sword at Tenjou Utena -– she who caused his sibling’s betrayal against him. “I will save you now.”

***

“All this time we’ve been . . . interacting, and you are really Ringo-chan’s older sister?”

Even knowing this strange ghost’s relation to her best friend, Himari refused to let her guard down. “Then . . . it was you who manipulated my brothers into sacrificing themselves to erase Subway Attack Take Two?”

‘A child like you cannot comprehend the necessity of my actions.’

Himari could feel her rage heating up at those words; Momoka face the girl with a stoic front -- one that soon crumbled into an impish, bittersweet smirk.

‘That was what the Princess of the Crystal would no doubt say to you, should she still exist,’ said the girlish ghost. ‘Yes, loath as she would be to admit it, she was his pupil, after all, and could not help taking after him.’

Turning solemn, Momoka gave Himari a ninety-degree bow –- while still on air.

‘Please allow me, Oginome Momoka, to apologize for the harm the Princess have caused you and your family, Takakura Himari-san.’

“A-Acepted,” muttered Himari, more affected by Momoka’s unexpected formality than anything else. “But . . . why are you referring to the Princess in the third person?”

‘Because the two of us are not the same.’ Momoka righted herself. ‘Long before I reincarnated myself as Oginome Momoka in this current era, I was, in an ancient era, the Princess of the Crystal: a girl who was bestowed magical power by the Rose Prince.’ Her voice lowered with something like mourning. ‘The two of us are women who experiences life from different eras –- our views and our wants are different. The part of me that was the Princess of the Crystal has since perished in battle earlier this night. This leaves only me, Oginome Momoka, to enact on both our behalves our ‘Salvation Strategy’.’

“Salvation . . . Strategy?”

And Momoka reached forth grabbing Himari by both hands.

‘The strategy to bring about a new and better world, where no one would be forced to become nothing no matter what kind of birth Fate has bestowed upon them. Weakened from the Princess’ demise, I do need your help in order to exert my influence.’

“Birth . . .” Himari’s voice tightened at remembering her own mother; no, not the loving Takakura Chiemi, but rather her own deadbeat birthmother, who practically left her to get grinded down at the Child Broiler. That was when Shouma showed up to save her by making her his sister. That was when everything – the Takakura Family bonds, the shared Fruit of Fate -- began. “How do I help?”

Beaming at the girl’s resolve, Momoka reached forth grabbing Himari by both hands. ‘First, you become my avatar. Then, we get my trusty Captain-kun out of the way for what we’re about to do . . .’

***

“So it’s come full-circle, huh?”

The three pre-pubescent children -- one boy, two girls -- lay sprawled out at the bottom, upon nothingness. Vacuous space enveloped them, shell-like, in its infinite shades of blue-tinted gray, keeping its captives from seeing a way out.

“After all these years of fighting against Fate, we’re all again the unchosen children we all started out as,” mused the orange-haired girl, her tone jaded and resigned.

“Rejected by the World, destined to disappear off its scenery,” mumbled the maroon-haired girl holding hands with her.

“But, I’m not sorry that I risked myself for that someone I believe in,” stated the defiant redheaded boy lying by their side, smiling with pride in spite of their current situation. “For that revolution I want happen.”

“Hail, hail,” conceded the orange-haired girl, sharing his smile.

“Then, what’s to become of us now?” asked the maroon-haired girl. “Now that we’ve died, are we to be stuck in this strange place forever?”

“Having been trial-ed by Fate, you’ll all get to be reborn into adults -- in the truest sense of the word.”

The new voice cutting in had the trio looking up. Standing above them was a nondescript young maiden, whose plain-seeming dress was adorned with a glowing peach motif –- a motif that the boy found strangely familiar.

“Who . . .” started the redhead, trailing off as two taller figures emerged from behind the slight wisp of a maiden.

They were a handsome couple: a blue-eyed man and a pink-haired woman. This time, boy was certain he had seen them somewhere before.

“You are . . . ?”

“Young man.” The man had since crouched down closing the distance between them. “Back when you crossed paths with our family, had we known of the troubles you and the other boy were suffering under . . . surely we would have intervened, no matter how dangerous an undertaking it would be,” stated the man with a note of apologia. “Please forgive us for being so unobservant, Touga-kun.”

Touga -- currently the child he imagined himself to be in his heart -- widened his eyes in recognition of these faces from the past. “. . . Mr. and Mrs. Tenjou?” His words had the girls -- also in child-state -- sitting upright.

“Utena-san’s mother is the Aoki Tyna?” gasped Shiori, starry-eyed (and likely having completely forgotten about her current troubles). “That international Asian supermodel who opened doors for so many following in her footsteps?!”

“Thank you for being Utena’s friends -- for trying to help her -- though that difficult time.” Tenjou Kenta beamed at the children with a rugged, down-to-earth gentleness: a quality that Touga had always associated with “real” fathers. “Don’t worry, now is Utena’s turn to help you all.”

“And Touga-kun, thank you for being a prince for Utena when she needed it,” spoke Aoki Tyna, honeyed voice no less captivating than her striking appearance (which, Touga had to admit, far surpassed even Utena’s in both beauty and charisma). “Though . . . now should be the time for you to graduate from my daughter and go be with your own prince.”

The sound of girlish tittering had him turning his attention towards the peach motif maiden now giggling at his plight. A penguin hat now sat visible atop her brown haired head, and a pink book labeled “Diary” could be seen held in her delicate hands.

“You’re her!” exclaimed the boy, leaping up to his feet. “Oginome Momoka, currently possessing Takakura Himari--” His eyes widened further at seeing Chu-Chu’s diminutive figure now perched upon her slim shoulder. “What’re you doing with Himemiya’s familiar?!”

Violet eyes narrowed in a smile, Momoka/Himari voiced a vowel that had Touga’s entire world suddenly ablaze with a bright, white light. By the time the light had faded off, his surroundings his world his very being had all been changed.

He now found himself a grown man again, and was standing among a sea of faceless strangers; faceless in the literal sense, as their vague, crystalline features resembling sparse art and mere symbols. A number of them could be seen lining up and heading towards a massive grinder looming in the backdrop. What looked like glittery snow was raining down upon this desolate queue. It took a moment for him to realize that the “snow” was really a shower of glass shards. That shower was generated by the grinder’s metallic maw smashing up the grinded individuals, the cold, methodical violence of which had Touga feeling strangely numb . . .

‘What is this . . . ?’

That numb feeling sharpened into cold fear over as he saw, within the suicidal queue, someone who was not quite as indistinguishable as the rest -- a somebody who was just a little more green, a little more moody, a little more familiar-seeming than those others milling about in the background . . .

“ . . . Kyouichi?”

***

//“ . . . Kyouichi?”//

That voice, coming along with the LED monitors’ sudden change of scene, brought the confrontation between the living and dead members of the Captive of Fate to a grinding halt.

“He is invisible, ” said Kenzan, he and Chiemi having since left Ruka’s side as he moved over to stand beside their daughter. “Touga and his friend appeared to be heading straight for some variation of the--”

“The Child Broiler?!” exclaimed Shouma in acute horror at what was happening with his birth brother.

The boy did not reject it when Kenzan placed a tentative hand over his shaking shoulder. Likewise, Nanami did not shy away from Chimei’s closeness. Engrossed within their shared worry for Touga, the Takakuras had, for the first time in twenty years, stood united as a family.

Kanba, who had since stepped back and away from the reunited family, watched on with wistful eyes. Masako came up to hold him in her arms. Tsuwabuki and Ringo, standing a little away from the families, traded a look between themselves, before stepping up and towards Ruka and Mr. Natsume.

“Well, I guess that plan to steal power from Tenjou Utena-san to benefit not-Himari-chan will have to wait, since Shouma’s big brother is in trouble and need our help first.” The Oginome girl’s tone made clear her disdain for their proposed plan.

“How odd.” Unaffected by the girl’s sarcasm, Mr. Natsume instead appeared baffled from where he observed the LED screens -- all of which bore a peach motif caption. “The visuals we’re receiving should be attuned to the Princess’ will. Why would she sabortage her own plan by showing us this now? Unless . . . Oginome Momoka, freed from the Princess’ influence while still having some of her power, has maybe another plan of her own that she’s kept secret from even us?”

“No.” Ruka’s rebuttal came airy and weak. “Momoka had no reason to keep something like this from us . . . unless . . .” Ghostly complexion blanching further, his eyes widened to show white from all sides. “ . . . unless she is actually planning to--”

The train car shook as though impacted by some powerful percussion. A thin white line appeared to outline the wall to the train cab, before quickly broadening into a sizable gap.

Tokiko’s willowy figure could be seen stepping into the train cab, to where her brother was.

“Chida-san!”

“It will be alright, Tsuchiya-kun,” assured Tokiko. Without turning around, she closed the door behind her -- right as the rest of the train started speeding backwards and away . . .

***

‘Good,’ nodded Momoka, hovering in space from where she and Himari watched the Fate Train -– minus the train cab -– sliding backwards and out of the castle. ‘Now that the vast majority of the Captives of Fate are preoccupied with the Broiler, Captain-kun will have no choice but to get dragged along too. With him out of the way, we are free to enact the next step of the Strategy without interference.’

“What do we do now?” asked Himari, feeling completely at a loss as she let the ghost maneuver her body and soul?”

‘Now? Now we oversee the demise of he who once was the noble Rose Prince, but is now the monster backing Kiga. He is the one responsible for all that is making you and your World suffer.’

“So . . . the Rose Prince who gave magical power to the Princess is now the enemy?”

‘Former Rose Prince, current Ends of the World; Ohtori Academy Acting Chairman Ohtori Akio –- he who must perish tonight before true salvation can dawn upon this world.’

***

“. . . out of the egg, but still in your shell . . .”

The first thing that came back to her was her hearing, which allowed that damnable voice to seep into her pounding head. Next came the clarity of vision, which allowed her to see that she was, again, situated within that vine-webbed hall of that damnable castle (why were the lights so bright?). Then came the rest of her senses, which brought her back to the present with a heartbeat-skipping jolt.

“I’m alive . . . ?” whispered Juri in disbelief as she got back on her feet from where she was sprawled on the ground. Checking her now immaculate uniform (which she knew had been pierced through by no less than three swords previously stabbing through her torso) she found no tears; not even a single speck of bloodstain--

Shiori.

“Shir--” she cried out for her significant other –- whom she saw getting rushed by those swords shooting out from those ungoldy vines -- before quickly holding her tongue. For in front of her eyes stood he who should have been their murderer (except she was obviously still alive), and he was currently facing off against two armor-clad, helmet-wearing warriors. One of them warriors had tapered hair colored like strawberry vanilla cream, and the other rippling waves dark like the nighttime ocean.

Utena and Anthy, now appearing as armored warriors standing united against the Ends of the World. Juri found the outlandish situation almost mundane compared to all that she had seen on this eerie night: the roads to the Ends of the World ribbon-ing Tokyo Big Egg’s interior, Dios’ Fate Steed that now bordered between horse and subway train (or, to be more exact, its detached train cab), her own Shiori’s bout as both a car and a butterfly fairy . . .

Shiori. Juri could only hope the other Duelist was faring as well as herself. Something had happened while she was out, something involving Shiori and herself having regressed into becoming children, the mysterious peach motif girl, and that couple whom Touga had called Utena’s Parents--.Touga. He too, like Shiori, was worryingly absent from this too-important scene.

“Juri-sempai!”

Turning at the whispered call, her eyes then widened at whom she now saw. “Kozue . . . and Ohtori Kanae-san?”

“Kanae is my sister and is divorcing the bastard so she’s okay!” Kaoru –- currently perched against what looked like thin-air -- spoke with hurried haste from where she stood by the other woman. “Keep your eyes on the battle -- the rest of us have been blocked by some barrier so you are the only one who can help!”

Reaching for the frantic young woman, Juri found herself blocked by what felt like an invisible wall –- not unlike the one Utena had pulled over them during the Swords of Hate battle. She had no idea why Kozue was suddenly insisting that Ohtori Kanae was her sister. That said, having the current Bride on their side working against Akio could only be good news to their cause. “Where are Shiori and Touga?”

“Neither of them have been spotted since Tenjou and Himemiya blinded us all with their brilliant entrance,” stated –- lo and behold –- Mikage, again human from where he got up to beside the women. “Both were formerly located within the barrier along with you; chances are that they still are somewhere around--”

CLANG!!!

That sharp, metallic sound had Juri turning her attention back to the center of the Hall, where the knight in black armor –- Utena –- now had her sizable spear bearing against Ohtori Akio’s smaller weapon – clearly the Sword of Dios. Sparks were flying as the aura-engulfed weapons sawed against each other (spearhead against blade, her power against his), erupted in a red, searing shower that singed some of those vines withering worm-like within their proximity.

“Tenjou-kun.” Keeping a firm grip on his sword –- its blade flaring a reddened hue like that of fresh molten -- Akio glared down upon his opponent from his superior height. “I see you have at last mastered the stolen Light.”

“Akio-san, I’ve found it,” stated Utena. “My true self.”

Even with her (she must have returned to being female with that voice) features obscured, Juri could tell from her assured form that Utena had since regained her foolhardy confidence –- an infectious quality that make her the Victor and their leader.

Akio –- so cautious in his current defensive stance -- must have sensed the same.

“Tenjou-kun . . .”

“I know who I am now -- I know what kind of future I can work towards!”

A twist of her double-headed spear, and Utena broke the parry as she flung the Sword of Dios aside. Disarmed, Akio fell backwards, but in a manner that Juri immediately recognized from her fencer’s training to be a calculated move. Before she could have vocalized a warning, however, Utena had since followed through with a brutal downward stab aiming to skewer their adversary . . .

. . . and her spear sailed straight through an explosion of serpentine vines now bursting out of Akio’s white uniform, their thorny lengths rapidly entangled the armored warrior underneath their thorny webbing.

“And still you lack the power to deliver me my comeuppance,” mused Akio, humanoid core form re-manifesting at another corner of the botanic swarm. A few leafy lengths enveloped his lower regions in a sort of make-shift tunic, giving the immodest man an illusion of basic modesty. Worst than his near-nudity, he still held the Sword of Dios in his hand.

Ignoring the jab, Utena merely strained against the many vines tying her down, to little effects.

“Such splendid armory you now are wearing, down to that helmet . . . what are you hiding underneath?”

Akio’s words had Utena turning still; he went deeper with the cut:

“Could it be that you still have yet to take form underneath this tough, glossy exterior?”

Before Utena could reply, a vine had since snaked up to rip her helmet off. What was revealed that had the Duelists -- possibly minus Mikage, but Juri could not be sure -- dropping their jaws.

Utena’s face was now a blank, featureless canvas, not unlike how the Takakura brothers were during their initial encounter.

“Unlikely, given her strong display of self-consciousness and agency.” Mikage squinted his eyes at Utena. “Could this be . . . ?”

“As I thought.” Akio’s smile was one of polished, calculated pity. “Even after all that fanfare, you still have yet to decide on what self-image to use to face you future.” His voice deepened with a dark, husky undertone. “Poor thing. You would not have to suffer so much, for so long, had you listened to me back then and stayed as a girl.”

A jolt went through Utena, as though a deadly thorn had pricked right through her nerves –- or worse, her very resolve.

No. Not now.

“Arisugawa--” Mikage’s warning came from beyond the barrier, but it was already too late. Juri had since dived headfirst into the fray.

“Utena!” shouted the fencer while cutting her way through the moving vines and towards the Victor with her again-present soul sword. “I’m getting to you!”

“Juri-sempai?!” Utena appeared to be noticing her for the first time. “Stay back! I’m doing fine--”

Too late, as Juri had since found herself hopeless entangled within the vines, their thorns drawing blood from where they now dug painfully into her flesh. “D-Damn . . .”

Utena struggled anew against the vines at seeing the other Duelist’s predicament. “Juri-sempai!”

Mikage, too, made himself heard. “Arisugawa-san, without any protective covering, your skin--”

“I’m fine!” insisted Juri in spite of the pain and humiliation she currently felt, as she now worked gingerly to free himself. “This is nothing . . .” She knew how cunning Akio was; had seen with her own eyes how easily he had tricked Utena; and still she ended up barging her way into that same trap like some reckless simpleton. “ . . . nothing . .. “

“What foolishness,” commented Akio, adding to her current humiliation. “Did you not almost get killed trying to fight me earlier on?” Shaking his head, the monster regarded Juri and her pained, clumsy efforts against him with something akin to wonder. “Tenjou-kun has only just healed your wounds with Dios’ Light, and here you are all set to get hurt again--” He stopped., glanced down upon himself, upon his ripped abdomen, where a sword’s tip could be seen poking out . . .

“Don’t you know?” hissed his assailant, voice tight with fear yet also the determination to overcome said fear. “We are fools.” All present Duelists were agape at this sudden and dramatic appearance.

“. . . Shiori!” gasped Juri, her shock at the turn of events rapidly gave way to fearful worry. “Get away at once! That monster will--”

“It’s no use,” said Akio, turning his head to glance sideways down upon the sweaty, trembling woman skewering him with her soul sword. “The likes of you cannot possibly hurt . . .” And he trailed off, as blood started streaming out around the edges of the cut under the wide eyes of his many opponents.

“A-Ah!!!” Scampering backwards -– pulling out her sword in a spray of blood -- Shiori regarded the violence she had done against their powerful adversary with what looked like a mixture of horror and awe. “I . . . I actually managed to . . . ?!”

“Takatsuki . . .” spluttered Kozue. “You . . .” She then stumbled forward, as the barrier blocking her and the others had apparently vanished. “ You did it!” Beside her, Kanae could be seen holding her fists to her mouth as she cried – though it was unclear as to for whom did her tears fell.

“Impossible.” Stunned, Akio now regarded his bleeding wound like it was some alien, unfathomable entity. “The collective strength of over a hundred million human hearts now courses through my body of power; and my princely heart has since been complemented by the Crystal . . . ”

“You still don’t know what happened, do you?”

That voice –- familiar and low -- had everyone turning towards someone who had remained silent and still since re-emerging: someone who was at the core of tonight’s conflict.

“Sis--” Gaze trained upon the armored Anthy -- or, to the more specific, the apple she was holding out towards him -- Akio’s dark, glowy complexion came to blanch out as his tallish figure came to hunch over. “ . . . that’s . . .”

“The fruits of your labor have since rotted at the core,” stated Anthy, displaying the apple by its dark, rotted side. “You are wilting away even as we speak.”

Just then, Utena snapped the vines tying her up. Juri, too, broke free upon realizing how she now had no problem getting untangled: the vines had all dried out to the point of brittleness by now.

“Shiori!” Hurrying past the deadened tendrils, past Akio (appearing much less of a threat than just moments before) and past Utena (now having moved to beside Anthy), Juri swooped her dazed-seeming lover into her arms, crushing the delicate frame against herself to feel it, to make sure this was really happening. “Shiori . . . oh, Shiori, you . . . you reckless . . . !”

“You GO girl!” cried Kozue, having since came up to bear-hug Shiori from behind (Kanae remained where she stood a few steps behind her). Miki’s twin -- so often cynical and jaded -- now displayed an almost-childlike exuberance that Juri herself current felt, so moved were they by the incredible turn of events. Even Akio’s spilled blood –- much of which having since solidified into innumerable rose petals drifting across the floor in a scarlet swarm -- appeared almost festive under current jubilant atmosphere.

“I actually did it,” breathed her Shiori, her voice and expression almost dreamy in her exhilarated state. “I hurt that monster, and with my own sword.” Small face flushed with excitement, she clasped a trembling hand over Juri’s. “I don’t know how I managed to, when he has all this power . . .”

“Even the best fuel becomes useless when the vehicle is rusted.”

The women turned towards Mikage, who was standing some distance away studying the spots marring those many apples sprouting off the dry, sluggish thorn vines.

“No matter what power he current possess, Ohtori Akio cannot utilize it now,” mused the scientist with a cruel curl to his lip. “Not when his true form has since been infected by what looks like an aggressive variation of the Witches’ Broom.”

“We from the Kingdom’s Royal Household are such stuff as roses are made of,” said Anthy, her helmet-clad head hung low as she regarded the rotten apple she picked off of her brother’s vines. “The original Witches’ Broom, having since devolved to become what is known to modern science as the Rose Rosette, is a fatal, incurable disease to our species.” Her voice dropped with something like sorrow. Utena, now standing beside her in solidarity, petted her shoulder. “While the current Rose Rosette pose no threat to us, the original strain’s deadly effects can overthrown even the Rose Prince in full flower.” That voice choked up with something like tears. “It was this illness dethroned his late Majesty -- the Rose King -- after all.”

“I cannot die.” Akio, having since dropped to one knee in apparent fatigue, suddenly spoke up. “It is just not possible for us. I would have died back when our Kingdom collapsed, had I been capable of death. Sister.” He turned towards Anthy with an alien look of desperation to widening his once piercing eyes. “You’re the same. You should know . . . do you not?”

“We who were bestowed immortality by his late Majesty’s power cannot die,” agreed Anthy. “We can, instead, suffer on undyingly in a weakened, degenerated state. You’re the same. You should know . . . do you not?” And she dropped the bad apple, letting it impacted the floor in a slimy brown puddle under her brother’s harrowing gaze.

“ . . . Weak?” asked Akio, his voice quiet and ominous as the calm before a budding storm. Juri, who felt Shiori pressing closer against her, tightened a protective arm around her frightened love. “I am not weak. I have spent the last decade empowering myself just for this very moment. I cannot be weak. Not now.” One hand clutching at his chest -- currently emitting a pallid purple glow -- he gestured with his other at the Fate Train. “Not when I finally have my Fate Steed, the Light of the World and the Heart Crystal all in place to enact the Revolution that we want happen!” He then turned to glance down and upon the dried, gnaws vines making up his makeshift costume. “No . . . there is no way I can just contact a long-extinct virus from out of no--”

“Didn’t you just give yourself a ‘transplant’ earlier this night, Akio-san?”

Mikage’s words had the effect of shutting up their rambling enemy, who went still as a rock. The man’s cool smirk broadened as he drove the knife home: “Say, even you should know by now: viral infection is always a risk when accepting organs from an unchecked donor.”

“The Princess,” rasped Akio, grabbing at his sickly, light-basked chest. “The Princess carried the original strain of the virus, right in the Crystal. Her heart. Her Crystal.” He glanced over and at something Juri had only vaguely noticed before: that scantily clad pink-haired girl strung up by a few brittle vines. “How long has she been harboring the Witches’ Bloom?” There was neither fear nor anger in his voice, only what seemed to be a deep, wounded sadness. “She could not have been infected for long, or she would not have been able to fight me and my sister like she did. That girl . . . what a silly, stupid girl.” He chuckled then, its ragged sound actually forcing an empathetic tear out of Juri’s eyes. “Did she think she was committing lover’s suicide? Destroying her regal self, just to end me . . . did she seriously think this is worth it?” Shaking from his agonized laughter, his lips pulled back to reveal clenched, grinded teeth. “Just to stop . . . what I’ve become . . . so stupid . . .”

“Oh . . .” Anthy turned her obscured face away, as though not wanting to see her sibling in this dismal state. “Oh Brother--”

“SISTER!” snapped Akio, with a sudden and explosive anger that sent even the wild likes of Kozue jolting (though Anthy remained still). “That which we have labored towards since the beginning of time is right here before our very eyes!” Still down on one knee, he pointed the Sword of Dios against Utena. “I will defeat your consort, and grasp the power to change the World with these very hands!”

Turning further away away from her brother, Anthy leaned her helmet-obscure face against Utena’s chest armor plate, as the two warriors engaged in a tender, metallic embrace. Their very sight was no doubt an eyesore to Akio, now blinking uncontrollably from the tears escaping his reddened eyes.

“Stop fleeing into the arms of others to avoid me!” demanded the jilted sibling/lover, struggling back up onto his feet. “Why won't you understand?!” Words, angry and desperate, came like the gushing of blood from some deep, grievous cut. “I love you! I love you knowing the whole of you! I love you even though you are my sister! Even though you’ve murdered my princess, I still . . . still . . .” And he lost steam, as though suddenly chilled to the bone by some horrible slipup.

“It is just as you say.” Anthy’s voice came barely above a whisper. “You can play at being my prince all you want, but I can never become ‘your princess’ . . . because I was her murderer.”

All were stunned by her words, especially Akio, whom Juri noticed had actually started to hyperventilate.

“Anthy . . .” Utena looked like she wanted to say something, but was silenced by Anthy’s gesture.

“Isn’t it strange? I saved the ailing Dios from the raging masses demanding his servitude. Yet, instead of the goddess who sacrificed herself for him, he could only ever see me as a witch.” The red warrior had since straightened up to better face her shaken brother. “As with all things, there was a reason behind this.”

“Sister . . .” hissed Akio, in a tone that might be either pleading or defensive.

“I shall now reveal the secret behind the Rose Bride’s origin,” said Anthy, to her brother as well as those others gathered. “That final, missing truth hidden within our tragic tale of old.”

***

“--STOP!”

Grabbing onto Kyouichi -- moving with the heavy steps of the resigned -- Touga struggled to pull him out of the queue.

“. . . Kyouichi!” snapped Touga, tugging hard on the other man’s arm. “What in the world are you doing in this lineup? We’re in the middle of battle against the Ends of the World! Shouldn’t you be fighting alongside --”

“Shouldn’t you be up in that Castle with Tenjou?”

Kyouicki’s question – asked in that listless tone Touga remembered from the Ohtori expulsion fiasco – impacted the redhead like a slap.

“Kyouichi . . .”

“The Castle said to hold Eternity, huh?” Dead-eyed, Kyouicki moved on along the queue without sparing him a single glance. “Just the perfect backdrop for the kind of action and romance that’s right up your alley.”

Kyouicki’s forward momentum, while sluggish, was surprisingly strong, such that Touga found himself pulled along by his stride.

“Kyouichi . . . why are you behaving this way, now?” asked Touga, all the while wary of their nearing the grinder’s chomping maw. “Didn’t you make the resolve to put personal feelings aside you agree to join me and the others fighting Ohtori Akio?”

“I’ve had enough,” stated Kyouicki, his head hanging even lower than before. “We’re almost thirty now, Touga -- the ‘uncles’ of the group, if you will.” A chuckle escaped the boy’s dried lips like a fallen leaf fluttering by. “Going down to face the invisible, rabid masses, I thought for sure I would be the strong, mature one defending Wakaba and Miki. I thought, if I could be the hero this time, I’d finally prove myself to you. Then I could be more to you than just this buffoon at your back and call. Stupid, huh?”

“Kyouichi, I’d never--”

“My non-career as mere paparazzi photographer ain’t no match against Kazami Tatsuya’s fame and fortune. And, even should I prove useful in tonight’s battle, I’m still just a side character in your story. I cannot possibly compete with Tenjou . . . not your one and only princess.”

“Kyouichi--” And Touga froze at seeing the text now flaring crimson across the grinder’s vast display screen.

“For your one and only princess, your feelings for all other people become insignificant.

“You would do anything for the Princess of the Crystal, even if it means making all the other girls of your Kingdom cry in misery.

“Even if it means having me, your sister, rot with jealousy.”

“What nonsense,” muttered Akio, his sickly pallor betrayed the heavy strain he now suffered under. “You know I have always esteemed you as being the most important one. I helped cover up your murdering the Princess, did I not?”

At his words, Anthy let out a long, shaky breath. “For the longest time, I thought you did that you did to defend me, the sister you value above even your princess. Even when you closed off your heart to me thereafter, even when you interpret my saving you from the masses as a selfish act meaning to possess you, I still hung onto the belief that you were my prince and savior. Yes, I once deluded myself this way.”

“Sister--”

“The truth -- one I have finally come to accept -- is that you did what you did only not because you forgave me, but because you were unable to face the damage I had caused.”

Akio reacted as though her statement was spoken in tongues. “What . . . ?”

“The Prince’s own sister, murdering his Crown Princess?” By now, Anthy had raised her voice in such an “uncharacteristic” manner, many a gathered Duelist was left visibly startled. “Such a royal failing would surely undo both the noble Prince and his immaculate Kingdom! Better sweep everything -- including the sister’s very existence -- under the rug, even though you knew my heinous crime was a heated mess that would surely burn right through the cover up!” Angry frustration in plain sight, she pointed an accusing finger at the brother she used to love. “That was not love -- you ‘covered up’ my crime because of the coward you were!”

To that, her brother’s bloodshot eyes widened as though from a sudden, unanticipated stab of a blade. From the sideline, Kozue jolted as though suddenly reminded of a long-forgotten past; the others, rapt as they watched the sibling confrontation unfold, made no show of noticing.

***

“That’s right, you’ve stayed with me for all these years out of sheer cowardice.

At such close proximity, he finally noticed the Pingroup Inc. logo printed all over the colossal machine as stylized motifs, marking it as something related to the Kiga Terrorist Group -- to Ohtori Akio, by extension.

Could this be what Himemiya was talking about? Human broilers, set up all over the country, with which Akio had been converting this country’s people into mere fuel to power his magic? I would make sense for him to set one up right here in the Big Egg for tonight’s events . . .

. . . was that broiler why Kyouicki was behaving this way now?

“ . . . but all that is over now.”

A sudden shove -- its strength a sharp contrast against its wielder’s current whininess – sent Touga tumbling a significant distance backwards and away from Kyouicki – now only a few spots away from the buzzing maw cutting up the invisible people.

“Kyouichi, wait--” Having fallen to the ground, Touga now found -- to his horror and disbelief -- that his ankle had been sprained right at this untimely moment. “Kyouichi . . . ”

“Men who cannot become something have no choice but to become nothing,” stated Kyouichi, not sparing him a single glance as he advanced towards certain doom. “Compared to your true princess, I’m certainly nothing to you, anyway.”

“So it’s alright now.” Features turning increasingly invisible, Kyouichi stared straight ahead at the rows of blades grinding those having gone before him into glass shard. “I’ll never work hard trying to excel at anything, or aim to become somebody again. I’ll simply remain a ‘nobody’, to you and to the world--”

“Kyouichi.” Grabbing onto Kyouichi by the wrist and keeping him from the moving blades, Touga –- in pain –- strained out the following question: “ . . . are you running away?”

***

“You cannot run away anymore.”

Utena watched, from behind the nothingness of her current face and body, her lifelong adversary crumbling under an utmost powerful weapon -- fact.

“Place face the truth behind our relationship,” stated Anthy; anger spent, she now, addressed her brother with the dispassionate civility reserved for former relations. “And, in acknowledging that your love for me is but a delusion -- conjured to aid in your escapism -- call off this Fate Transfer nonsense.”

Stripped of his Duelist uniform, wrapped only under his own vines, Ohtori Akio now appeared almost . . . naked to her eye. Oh, she had seen him naked before (by God had she seen it). During those times, he was always veiled under something dark, rich and smothering, something that made him appear more rather than less than his dressed self.

Not now; now, he just looked like he had been laid bare. Even with his perfect proportions and supple musculature, this downcast, slack-shouldered, broken Akio simply looked . . . exposed, disgraced. Utena saw how the female Duelists present were all regarding his bared fleshed with something like disgust; except Kanae, whose expression could only be described as pained pity.

In the end, the faux prince who haunted her childhood dreams had been reduced to a mere pauper. Such was justice, she supposed; the same cold, cruel justice that once had Anthy skewered by the Swords of Hate for “stealing” the Prince, and her forced-masculinized for bedding an engaged man . . .

“You cannot undo what you’ve done.” Utena heard herself uttering big words far detached from her current inner turmoil. “The best you can try is to atone for what you did.” At last, her life-long struggle against the Ends of the World appeared to be nearing its conclusion. “So, return the penguindrums to the people.” But what was this cold, empty feeling now eating at her now? “And then can you start atoning for all the wrongs you’ve done throughout your long existence . . .”

“And have your one and only princess stay dead?”

All turned at the intruding voice towards Mrs. Ohtori. Suspiciously absent throughout the earlier battle, the society matron again showed up standing poised beside the Princess of the Crystal’s lifeless body.

“Are you running away?!” snapped Touga, seething from a combination of pain and frustration. “Weren't we going to save the girl from the coffin, and in doing so, get out of our own coffins too?” He started shaking the other man in rough, jerky motions. “Isn’t that what we’ve aspired to do on that night sixteen years ago?”

“I can’t take the agony of failing at life, okay?!” Saionji snapped back, at last displaying his gritty, characteristic rage as he slapped Touga’s hands off him. “I hate having missed my chance at finishing high school! I hate having to grow old working what’s essentially a dead-end gig for some crap magazine!” He gestured wildly about, at the sea of nobodies milling aimlessly about in the background. “This LIFE with its endless string of meaningless punishments is the coffin! I can’t stand it anymore! Not even if I have you suffering by my side! I--”

“And you think the Broiler will offer you salvation?!” Touga pointed at the rolls of metallic teeth rolling in front of them. “The state of being nothing in life is just another coffin! Once you got comfy hiding behind it, this new coffin will entrap and stifle you all the same; it’d be worse than this life!” Again he latched onto Kyouichi, his baritone hoarse as he made one last, desperate try to and hold his one and only friend back from self destruction. “It’d be worse than even this life, Kyouichi!”

By now, Kyouichi was red in his currently semi-lucent face. For a moment, Touga thought Kyouichi might resort to violence like he always do, before all that heated redness drained out of the other man’s complexion, rendering him near-transparent in appearance.

“I'm sorry, Touga,” he said, now smiling a soft, wistful smile that had Touga feeling more unnerved than calmed.

“Kyouichi,”

“Just don't worry about me anym--”

Even before Saionji could have again pushed him off in his attempt to rush the broiler, Touga had since wrestled him to the ground. They then engaged each other in a graceless, artless scuffle, fighting with a simple childishness that neither possessed in their cruel, jaded childhood. It was a painful, cathartic dance that would have dragged on (unto eternity?), if not for that sizable something (a subway train?) dropping down to land fatefully atop the Adult Broiler. The resultant explosion slammed hammer-like at the duo’s very senses, putting the both of them in a world of overwhelming pain.

Right before he passed out from the agony, Touga caught sight of Kyouichi flailing within the infernal flames. Somehow, watching him struggle –- even when it was against damaging harm –- had eased Touga’s worried mind somewhat even as he, too, was gettting burned.

Long as one could muster up the will to struggle, one had what it took to survive life’s punishments; with this, one could go on living.

***

“There once was a prince left broken by the fiery murder of his crown princess -- his one and only love.

“Before this prince stood his incestuous sister, who murdered the princess out of jealousy.

“Her face red, and her garments disheveled, the sister enveloped the prince in the scent of roses, and wiped away his tears.”

Under their incredulous gazes, the sash-framed Mrs. Ohtori took her last steps up to beside Akio -- now still as a statue -- and encircled him pale, shapely arms.

“ ‘Think not of the Princess, who has since been consigned to flames. I am here, alive. From now on you and I will help each other to go on living.’ ” Mrs. Ohtori’s gaze, blue and cruel, cut at Anthy like sapphire daggers. “Was the sister’s embrace meant to bewitch the prince and keep him all to herself, even after the atrocity she had just committed?” Expression hidden, Anthy faced her without flinching; the woman’s red lips curled into a sneer. “That part was good.”

By now, Utena had had enough of her display of blatant hostility. “Hey, you--”

“Yet.” The older woman cut her off with smooth, practiced ease. “Because of his inability to accept that he had since lost the true love of his life, the prince instead deluded himself into thinking of his murderous sister as being his true love all along.” Hugging Akio from behind, she leaned the side of her face against the dark hollow of his neck. “But was that really such a good idea?”

“Indeed, you were unable to face the damage you sister had caused. But it was not because you feared losing face in front of the world’s people.

“Rather, you were unable to accept that you’ve lost the Princess of the Crystal -- the only one you’ve ever loved throughout the long falling of years.”

“Your Princess, victim of your cowardice, has since died twice over.

“Don’t you think you owe it to her to bring her back by enacting the Fate Transfer?”

Her words sent the present group jolting in alarm. Kozue, red in the face from where she stood by the blanched-out Kanae, clenched her fists tight, before stomping up and towards the woman; Kanae and the other Duelists hurried to follow her from behind.

“That’s enough from you!” snapped the girl, with a magnitude of anger that puzzled Utena. “Just what do you think you’re doing goading that monster into again trying to--” And she and the whole lot of them got wrapped up under the wide, fantastical arcs of blue now whipping outwards across the Castle’s hall.

The blue mass, conflating mass came at such a speed, that Utena found herself likewise ensnared in no time, with her spear ineffectual against its silken binding.

“What the . . .” Straining her eyes against the erupting winds, Utena saw how the vast lengths of chiffon were all originating impossibly from Mrs. Ohtori’s sash, its fine chiffon now having fanned out to encompass the entire hall in a silky web. “This is . . . ?!”

“The manifestation of Ohtori Hoshimi’s power,” stated Anthy, who was likewise caught much to Utena’s dismay. “Not every soul takes the form of a traditional blade.” Her voice lowered with deepening pensiveness. “Though, it should not be possible for a mere pawn like her to have such power, unless . . .” She trailed off, as peach motifs now appeared to scatter evenly throughout the blue sash’s vast folds. “It’s . . . her ?!”

“Hoshimi-chan!” Mikage cried out to the pawn in question -- with a familiarity that, much like Kozue’s earlier angry outburst, left Utena puzzled. “I don’t know why Oginome Momoka is lending you her power, but you must stop! The Ends of the World . . .” He trailed off, and did a double take with his fellow Duelists at what had now been revealed.

In place of Mrs. Ohtori’s glamorous figure now appeared a pretty pre-pubescent girl in a black ruffled skirt. “The Fate Train is right there at your command,” said this eerily precocious girl, practically breathing against the short white hair of the one she currently had a hold on. “All you need to do now is to take your rightful power back from Tenjou Utena. Surely you can manage that in your current state, can’t you . . . Prince?”

“I see . . .” Voice faint, Akio observed Anthy as though seeing her for the very first time. “My love for you has been misplaced since the very beginning.” His gaze fell upon his sister’s gloved hands, her fingers flexing as though from unsettled nerves. “My quest to revolutionize the world at all coat is a mere delusion.” He began raising the Sword of Dios, its aura making his dark complexion all the more ashen. “This life . . . is a lie.”

“Akio . . .” started Utena, moving cautiously between him and Anthy. “What are you--”

“Tenjou-kun.” Akio kept his eyes on Anthy even while addressing Utena. “You ever wonder why there is such a size discrepancy between Dios and I, even though we are the same age?” And, without waiting for her reply, he proceeded to start cutting himself with the sword under a roomful of widened eyes.

Vaguely, Utena thought she heard Anthy moaning faintly from beside her. She could not be sure, so loud was Kanae’s shrill scream now echoing through the hall. Yet, even that paled in comparison to her own heartbeat, now pounding at her hearing at a disorienting volume.

“I have lost.” Bisected, from head to groin, the Ends of the World smiled brokenly at his former bride and sister (who took a shaky step backwards at being addressed). “I shall now give you what you have always wanted from me, before I am to fade away, like all losers do.” With strained, trembling fingers, he started prying himself open at the cut seam, with a reddish something revealed underneath. “I only wonder . . . if you have . . . won anything . . . at all . . .?”

“Just stop this, Akio-san!” exclaimed Utena (impulsively addressing him with honorific like she had in her naïve youth), in fear and also (goddammit!) worry. “What’re you--”

With a snap, Akio’s “skin” parted to the sides like an insect’s shred shell. What lied beneath was not flesh and bones, but rather, a pile of crimson rose petals coating over what appeared to be a person -- one of smaller, finer stature than Akio.

It was the sight of this person who left Utena trembling from underneath her armor.

“How cunning . . .” Brushing rose petals off of himself –- all the while engulfing the space with the scent of roses –- the young man revealed a resplendent figure garbed under princely white. Short-white-haired head lowered, he regarded the ugly lose skin piled on the ground -- all that was left of “Ohtori Akio” -- with downcast green eyes. “With this, your crime and mine are now mine alone to atone for -- I alone am left to save our one and only love.” His slender fingers tightened around the hilt of his noble sword. “The way before me . . . has since been prepared.”

“Dios,” uttered Anthy, her voice low with more hurt than joy at finally getting to see the prince her brother once was. “The sleeping Rose Prince who had eluded the Witch as he slumbered through countless eras . . . at last he woke for the sake of his one and only princess.” Even with her face hidden under the helmet, it was apparent that she was staring at the Princess’s corpse strung up in the backdrop.

“It really is you, this time.” Utena’s voice cracked, as memories of their initial and perhaps only real encounter resurfaced to overwhelm her frantic mind. “The Prince, the real one. The shaper of life for me and for everyone gathered here tonight.” Had she been able to see herself, Utena would be mortified by the tears streaking down her again visible cheeks, where the blankness was fast fading off to expose her true, finalized self.

Fade in to the Castle’s interior. We see Momoka/Himari raising the opened Fate Diary over a kneeling Dios -- now alit with a brilliant, immaculate aura -- as the sash-bound Duelists watched on in apparent horror.

Momoka (off): No life is above being sacrificed for the greater good.

Switch to the Fate Train’s interior. Yuri and Tabuki are in hysterics as they shouted at the LED screens. Behind them, Renjaku and Mario can be seen supporting a fainted Eriko.

Ruka (off): You don’t even realize that this sacrifice is built upon the pains of others!

The Castle starts cracking. Switch back to its interior, where Ohtori Hoshimi –- an adult again –- lies crumpled upon the crimson carpet in a splatter of blue sash.

Hoshimi (off): But you can’t become my prince . . . because you are not him.

Kanae, Miki and Kozue are gathered together in a mournful trio. Behind them, a monstrous silhouette is struggling in wild, bestial agony.

Mamiya (off): . . . sorry for being just a make-believe prince.

Switch to Tokiko stepping into a vast fire going after two fiery silhouettes, with Mikage running after her.

Mikage (off): What is . . . eternity?

Switch to external short of the crumbling Castle. An Armored Utena is riding a flying white horse chasing after a likewise armored Anthy, whose aerial black mare appears to be running amok. Switch to Utena taking off Anthy’s helmet, and widens her eyes at what is revealed.

Utena (off): At last . . . we finally meet.

Switch to a symbol-cluttered maboroshi, where Himari runs up to embrace Chiemi and Kenzan from behind.

Himari (off): Let us share the fruit of fate!

Switch to the whole ensemble of Children of Fate (plus Double H) beaming under the radiant spotlight. Teenage-aged Kanba and Shouma are each standing with a young boy sharing their respective hair colors.

Wakaba (off): To think even something like that can be forgotten . . .

Switch to what looks like an elegant tea party setup. Wakaba appears forlorn from where she sits alone at a table upon where a tea set has been laid out alongside plates of cookies. The nametags “Kaido” and “Utena” could be seen placed upon her empty adjacent seats.

Anthy (off): But . . . he told me that he loved me.

Switch to Nanami crying as she exits a hospital room together with Tsuwabuki, who is gently drying her tears. They soon are joined by numerous other ex-Duelists from their round, who have been waiting outside for them. As they leave together as a group, the view zooms in on the room door, where the tag reads “Sonoda Keiko”.

Touga (off): Everything will be fine. As long as the love remains . . .

Switch to what looks like the hectic backstage of some fashion show, where Touga is down on one knee helping a short but well-proportioned model into an elaborate high heel platform shoe. Behind them, a bare-faced Juri could be seen conversing with some other model types in full-makeup and costume.

Juri (off): Someday . . .

Switch to nondescript countryside, where a slender figure in rugged clothing can be seen treading along a barren path. Perching upon this figure’s shoulder is Chu-Chu, currently playing with a sprouting Onion.

Urg . . . the promised ending is taking forever to write out properly. Much thanks go to the story's latest group of supporters/reviewers for keeping me going. The next update may or may not be the last installment because length. Please wish me luck, and I hope I'd be able to update sometime within this month (fingers crossed).

Notes: No, itâ€™s not the final installment yet, but there is carousel! And scorpion fire! And etc. etc. that call back to the two shows that I hope everyone would enjoy reading. shoob-da-boop@tumblr, your encouragement is pivotal to my being able to make this update. Morte Mistrata, Homokaka, thank you both for being my latest reviewers. My gratitude also go to CelianAdellanie, James Birdsong and those others who have been supporting me with feedback all along. Yes. There is still more to come. At least one more chapter detailing how the battle for the Worldâ€™s Fate goes down, and an epilogue of sorts showing the aftermath for every character involved. The coming part is really, really difficult to put into writing. Please continue enabling me with reviews if you want to see this continued. Much thanks. Much love ;-)